Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Are Back. Practical Magic 2 Hits Theaters September 11.
Joey King and Maisie Williams play their daughters. The family curse is back. The aunts never left.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as the Owens sisters in Practical Magic 2, in theaters September 11, 2026 in the US and September 18 in the UK. The full trailer is out. The aunts are back. The daughters have finally arrived.
The film is directed by Susanne Bier, written by Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett, and produced by Warner Bros. It is based on Alice Hoffman's 2021 novel The Book of Magic.
AT A GLANCE • US release: September 11, 2026 / UK: September 18, 2026 • Studio: Warner Bros. • Director: Susanne Bier • Writers: Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett • Based on: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (2021) • Set 25 years after the original 1998 film • Trailer: out now |
The cast
All four leads from the original are back:
• Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens
• Nicole Kidman as Gillian Owens
• Dianne Wiest as Aunt Jet
• Stockard Channing as Aunt Frances
New additions:
• Joey King as Kylie Owens, Sally's elder daughter, who discovers dark family secrets
• Maisie Williams as Antonia Owens, Sally's younger daughter
• Lee Pace — role not yet disclosed — his character pulls the sisters out of their New England town
• Xolo Maridueña — role not yet disclosed
• Solly McLeod — role not yet disclosed
What the film is actually about
Practical Magic 2 picks up 25 years after the original. Sally's daughters Kylie and Antonia are adults starting lives of their own. Gilly has settled into something like peace, a black cat included. Then a discovery about the origins of the Owens family magic surfaces, and it pulls all of them back in.
The centuries-old Owens curse, the one that kills any man who falls in love with an Owens woman, is still running. The film follows the sisters and the next generation as they try to break it.
Who made it and where it comes from
The original Practical Magic (1998) was directed by Griffin Dunne and based on Alice Hoffman's 1995 novel of the same name. It grossed around $46 million against a $75 million budget but built one of the most devoted cult followings of any fantasy film from that era.
Hoffman has written three companion novels since: The Rules of Magic (2017), Magic Lessons (2020), and The Book of Magic (2021). This sequel adapts the fourth and most recent. Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the original screenplay, returns. Georgia Pritchett of Succession co-wrote with him. Susanne Bier directs, bringing credits including Bird Box and The Perfect Couple.
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WHAT WRITERS CAN TAKE FROM THIS • Cult films make better sequels than blockbusters. Practical Magic failed commercially in 1998 and became beloved over 25 years. A sequel built for that specific audience has a more loyal base than one chasing the original's numbers. • The next generation is a structural tool. Giving Sally adult daughters means the film can explore the same curse from a fresh point of view without rehashing the original. The next generation inheriting the consequences is one of the cleanest ways to move a world forward. • Passing down power changes the stakes. The aunts are present, but Sally and Gilly are now the older generation. That shift is what makes the sequel feel like continuation rather than repetition. • Witch fiction built a community before BookTok existed. The Practical Magic fandom kept this story alive for 25 years through nothing but reader loyalty. Dark academia, cozy witch, and cottagecore readers have been building this audience for decades. |
If you are writing a story where magic passes through generations and the rules of your world were set long before your protagonist was born, tracking how those rules ripple forward is the structural work that happens before the first chapter. Writeo's Character Relationship Visualizer was built for exactly that kind of generational mapping.
Sources
Deadline — Practical Magic 2 Trailer: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman Confront Curse (April 2026); Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing Returning (July 2025)
Variety — Practical Magic 2 Trailer: Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock Return (April 2026)
The Hollywood Reporter — Practical Magic 2 trailer coverage
ABC News / Good Morning America — Joey King and Maisie Williams added to Practical Magic 2 cast (July 2025)